Submission + - Y-12 Nuclear Weapons Facility: Weapons-grade uranium, mercury, and revenge-porn (thebulletin.org)
Lasrick writes: This is simply astonishing. Bob Alvarez describes the fiscal, environmental, health, and safety problems that have for decades defined the Y-12 nuclear weapons facility in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. From insane levels of mercury pollution that has gotten into local waterways, to chronic fires and explosions, the arrest of a trespassing nun, and an airplane that came low enough over the facility to drop a large load of revenge-porn, Y-12 is a major disaster waiting to happen.
‘Years of leaking roofs have created chronic safety problems, including standing water in fissile material storage areas and water accumulation near electric control panels. In March 2014, a large portion of a concrete ceiling collapsed in a building that was once part of the weapons operation’
And recently, the Government Accountability Office ‘reported that one of the primary justifications for stockpiling excess canned sub-assemblies at Y-12 is “for potential use in planetary defense against earthbound asteroids.”’ In 2005, a task force at the Department of Energy recommended the closure of Y-12, citing a lack of ‘modern-day production technology,” and urged the DOE to begin an immediate site selection process elsewhere. That set the Tennessee congressional delegations into an uproar, so the DOE decided to modernize ‘in-place.” It can't happen too soon..
‘Years of leaking roofs have created chronic safety problems, including standing water in fissile material storage areas and water accumulation near electric control panels. In March 2014, a large portion of a concrete ceiling collapsed in a building that was once part of the weapons operation’
And recently, the Government Accountability Office ‘reported that one of the primary justifications for stockpiling excess canned sub-assemblies at Y-12 is “for potential use in planetary defense against earthbound asteroids.”’ In 2005, a task force at the Department of Energy recommended the closure of Y-12, citing a lack of ‘modern-day production technology,” and urged the DOE to begin an immediate site selection process elsewhere. That set the Tennessee congressional delegations into an uproar, so the DOE decided to modernize ‘in-place.” It can't happen too soon..